GAME UK has the best extra here as far as I can see (The Naked City case). My only choice is whether to play in Black and White or not. I suppose it comes down to whether I want to pretend I'm in LA Confidential or Angels With Dirty Faces. I'll certainly give B&W a quick go, but I wonder if it'll make the crime scene evidence hunting bit too hard.

Eurogamer has one of the less positive reviews, but Oli Welsh's criticisms are interesting. It seems he's a 100% player, and the nature of the interrogations (can't be retried without replaying the whole case, and where you *will* get responses wrong sometimes) frustrated him. It seems to be the sort of game where you have to accept what happened and move on. Furthermore, it sounds like a game that benefits from getting into the right mindset and knowing what to expect, specifically that it's not GTA or RDR, and that it's a slow moving game. This ended up being how I enjoyed RDR. I really tried not to pile through the story too quickly, but instead to soak up the ambience of the thing.

It's a shame that Cole Phelps sounds like a somewhat dry character. I know that we as players are meant to stamp our own personality onto our avatar, and so they end up being a bit neutral and uninteresting as a result. I thought Marston worked as a character, you knew his motivations, and even if the player wanted him to nob Bonnie McFarlane, Marston as a character wouldn't do that, and I thought it all worked pretty well. I don't want a GTA4 style social life in the game ("Forget interrogation cousin, you want go bowling?"), but you could imagine him going with his partner to a bar to talk about the current case and chew the fat to give him a bit more personality. Maybe this actually happens.

The 40 minutes-1 hour case length neatly matches the time I have to play a game in the evenings. Preparing to dive in...

Sorry to the other Amazon Prime members that got their release-day shipping thing screwed over.

I pre-ordered mid-March, and Prime's free release day shipping was an option then. I'm curious why they would have removed it for a while? Maybe pre-orders were exceeding stock. I just checked the tracking on Amazon and it says the game was out for delivery to my work last night at 8.30, so hopefully the mailroom emails me today to let me know it arrived. Here's hoping UPS doesn't lose it between the driver's seat and wheel well like they did for Brutal Legend...

I'll post impressions after an hour or two of gameplay. I'm so excited!

EDIT TO ADD:

I just saw this as I was about to listen to my favorite radio show online. Today at 2.30pm PST, at KCRW.com.

KCRW.com wrote:

Redesigning the Los Angeles of 1947 (2:30PM)

L.A. Noire is a video game released today by Rockstar, the company that brought you Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. It was created for Rockstar by Team Bondi in Sydney and it is an homage to the Los Angeles depicted in noir films and hard-boiled pulp fiction. How did the game designers recreate the Los Angeles of 1947? And did they get it right? Frances talks to John Buntin, author of the book LA Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City, Team Bondi production designer Simon Wood, and technology and design expert Marissa Gluck.

Just fyi, for those who haven't pre-ordered and have both systems, GiantBomb's review says this:

Giantbomb wrote:

Having spent a lot of time with both versions of L.A. Noire, the PlayStation 3 game is the clear-cut winner. Both versions of the game look fantastic, but there were a few instances of painful frame rate drops and objects drawing in too slowly on the Xbox that didn't exist on the PS3. Also, the shadows look a bit more jagged. This is splitting hairs, since both games look good enough that you should just get the one on the platform you prefer, though the PS3 also has the added benefit of being on a single disc to the Xbox's three, and includes an exclusive downloadable case

Just fyi, for those who haven't pre-ordered and have both systems, GiantBomb's review says this:

Giantbomb wrote:

Having spent a lot of time with both versions of L.A. Noire, the PlayStation 3 game is the clear-cut winner. Both versions of the game look fantastic, but there were a few instances of painful frame rate drops and objects drawing in too slowly on the Xbox that didn't exist on the PS3. Also, the shadows look a bit more jagged. This is splitting hairs, since both games look good enough that you should just get the one on the platform you prefer, though the PS3 also has the added benefit of being on a single disc to the Xbox's three, and includes an exclusive downloadable case

I wonder if the black-and-white mode is an actual cinematographical noire b&w, or just a grayscale filter.

From the NeoGaf:

"is anyone playing this in black & white for the first play-through?

I'm very tempted."

I'm not, but I turned it on just to check out the effect. As others have said it's not just a filter; I think it adjusts the lighting engine too. Looks quite stunning standing along a busy street in daytime.

Question to those who are getting this game because it's not the same as RDR and GTA. The most frustrating thing to me about GTA IV and RDR is that the game is too scripted. Missions are generally pretty linear and only open up as you finish other missions. There are usually like 3 "quest givers" at any given time and they're often dependent. Within those missions you often have to go from checkpoint to checkpoint in an exact order to complete the mission. In GTA IV you will frequently be doing a mission that requires driving. You have to follow someone exactly in order to continue on to the shooting.

So given the beefs some of us have with recent Rockstar games, why would LA Noire be any different? I mean, it appears to be a wildly different game made by a different team, but it seems like this is less game and more interactive movie. To those who have similar issues with Rockstar games, what makes LA Noire attractive? I'm not asking sarcastically, I'm seriously curious. I always am interested in what Rockstar does and I always try the games, but they frequently fall flat for me because they're too scripted. So I'm curious what's making other Rockstar doubters interested in this game.

On the surface, I'd say it's different solely for the fact that it isn't resorting to juvenile, misogynistic tendencies only to set up the next big gunfight or car chase mission.

I think the larger attraction to this is that it is a more mature world with great visuals, told in a style that's rarely seen in the game industry. Also, I'd maybe compare the gameplay with that of an adventure game, with some open-world elements incorporated. In so much as it isn't a game based solely around rewarding the player for being violent, at the very least. Honestly, I never looked at it as some sort of GTA from the police's perspective, as it seems some people may be doing so.

Thanks, that's what I'm looking for. As I also have issues with the current generation of Rockstar games I'm curious what my fellow peeps who don't think RDR is the greatest game ever find intriguing about LA Noire. Mostly because I like adventure games and I LOVE open world games so I want a good adventure from Rockstar. But I want one not made like this generation of games from them.

I don't care so much about the immaturity. I played Saints Row to death. But I do prefer games with a distinct style. I really liked "The Saboteur" for that reason.

I agree. I wish this wasn't being seen as "a rockstar game." It's an adventure game that lets you wander around in the map between puzzle rooms. And be in a film noire. And drive some swank cars. And hang with the cast of Madmen.

DSGamer, from what I understand you have four desks that represent acts in the game. Each is tailored to a specific line of work in the police (traffic, vice, arson, etc.). As you complete the missions within each role, you get promoted up the ranks to a new desk.

Now I'm not sure if you get to pick and choose which cases you take on when you're at a particular desk, and I'm inclined to think it's linear to serve the overarching game narrative. However, once you pick up a case it's like you're playing a chapter of the game (complete with case-title splash screen). I've read that chapters can last one to two hours.

Once selected, you're locked into that mini-story. So in a sense you are following a predetermined set of objectives. Scouring the crime scene for evidence. Evidence giving clues to potential suspects. Suspects offering leads to other paths of inquiry. It's certainly seems like Point A to Point B to Point C, etc., but I'm not sure if you can pursue leads in any order you like.

Honestly, listening to your problems with the gameflow dynamics of standard Rockstar games, I don't think Noire will be much different. The caveat being that the nature of these dynamics are more unique, such as CSI work and interrogations, with the emphasis on shooting / car chases dialed way back from standard GTA/RDR fare.

I can certainly see a pretty big difference in gameplay dynamics between Noire and GTA/RDR, but I'm not sure if the bolts that hold the game together are different enough to hook you in.

Nerdraging a bit. The DLC for the PS3 version is tied to the Playstation Store. Since that's down, I can't get the DLC, which includes a case that seems like it occurs fairly early on in the game. Rarrgh.

3 hours in, this doesn't seem like an open world game at all (unless it opens up a bit later), and it's all the better for it, imo. I don't think comparisons to GTA or RDR are apt. I've maybe had to kill 8 people total. This is definitely an adventure game above all else.

Squee9 wrote:

Ahh Dyni, I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.

Just out of interest, are the cases linear? As in, do you work on one, solve it, and then get the next case, or can you be working one case for a while, run out of leads, go work on another, then something comes up for case one that starts a fresh line of enquiries?

I've been rolling ideas around in my head about the second possibility (for a different type of game, but the investigation aspect is central) where the perpetrator would react to the investigation, so they go quiet when they see an investigation and pick up when they think you're gone.

So far I've found most of the gunplay in the street crimes. Only one of the cases I've worked had much gunplay at all, and it was all at the very end.

I'm enjoying the ride so far. Stat screen says I'm 30% complete. My biggest struggle so far has been picking up on when to use doubt vs. lie. Should lie only be used when supporting evidence has been found?

I'm a little worried about the linearity and the "interactive movie" tag meaning that this isn't going to be straight up fun. What movie, even interactive, is really enjoyable for 40+ hours?

That said, I'm buying it despite my worries and hoping for the best because they are trying some new things that I'd like to see done more often: mature writing and storytelling, a game that doesn't involve killing hundreds of people/creatures but is still sophisticated and adult, and a story in which you are force to live with your mistakes and decisions.

I'm a little worried about the linearity and the "interactive movie" tag meaning that this isn't going to be straight up fun. What movie, even interactive, is really enjoyable for 40+ hours?

That said, I'm buying it despite my worries and hoping for the best because they are trying some new things that I'd like to see done more often: mature writing and storytelling, a game that doesn't involve killing hundreds of people/creatures but is still sophisticated and adult, and a story in which you are force to live with your mistakes and decisions.

I'd say it's closer to a television series than movie. There's a very episodic structure of little vignettes playing out while Cole's overarching story is presented through other means.

I'm a little worried about the linearity and the "interactive movie" tag meaning that this isn't going to be straight up fun. What movie, even interactive, is really enjoyable for 40+ hours?

That said, I'm buying it despite my worries and hoping for the best because they are trying some new things that I'd like to see done more often: mature writing and storytelling, a game that doesn't involve killing hundreds of people/creatures but is still sophisticated and adult, and a story in which you are force to live with your mistakes and decisions.

I'd say don't think "interactive movie" and start thinking "interactive TV show." That Guardian review posted last week then subsequently pulled (haven't checked to see if it is back up or not) said something along the lines of the game having enough content spaced throughout that it played out like a TV show's season, rather than a really long movie.

This makes me wonder about the relation of games as "interactive movies"-- it seems as though the origin of the term stems from the idea that (A) Games had the potential to tell deeper stories than TV shows could or used to, and (B) games generally had a larger budget than most TV shows-- more akin to that of a movie. But with stellar TV shows like Mad Men, Firefly, Lost and many others in the last decade, it seems that TV, with proper writing and budget, can match if not surpass most films as story telling devices and adventures. Comparatively, video games are generally reaching as many hours of gameplay as a TV season or two, and the idea of episodic games is becoming more popular over time.

This is all to say, perhaps games as interact TV rather than interactive movies is more apt nowadays.

Just out of interest, are the cases linear? As in, do you work on one, solve it, and then get the next case, or can you be working one case for a while, run out of leads, go work on another, then something comes up for case one that starts a fresh line of enquiries?

They seem pretty linear so far. I don't think you'll be able to move on to a new case until you're done with the current one. You're fed part of Cole's backstory in between each case.

Hangdog wrote:

I'm a little worried about the linearity and the "interactive movie" tag meaning that this isn't going to be straight up fun. What movie, even interactive, is really enjoyable for 40+ hours?

I think Heavy Rain fit into that description pretty well at 8-10 hours, and I found it very enjoyable, despite not being straight up fun. LA Noire is supposed to clock in at the 20 hour range from what I've read, not 40+.

HansomB1derful wrote:

My biggest struggle so far has been picking up on when to use doubt vs. lie. Should lie only be used when supporting evidence has been found?

I was just about to post and ask the same thing. I don't think they did a good job of clarifying the right scenarios to use those options.
Edit: Oh, thanks SpacePPoliceman.

Squee9 wrote:

Ahh Dyni, I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.

I do miss the quickest path being shown on the map. I know it doesn't make sense technologically like in GTA IV, but it was in RDR and I liked having it there. It didn't take me out of anything, I actually think that it helped keep me engaged because I would waste time wandering around if I didn't want to.

I think it's a good way to bridge the gap between a character who is familiar with the world and a player who at the outset isn't.

One of the post case briefings told me that if I had gotten somewhere quicker then I could have opened another avenue of investigation. I certainly could have gotten there faster, but when you're only given a general direction to go in it's easy to get lost.

Yes, very clear and obvious direct supporting evidence. In "Buyer Beware", the end of the Patrolman section:

Spoiler:

You have positive ID on the guy through the witness. When he says he wasn't there, you have very clear evidence that he's lying.

When he says the victim's antisemitism wasn't his business, you have statements from the witness that the victim hated Jews. If you try to use Lie on him there, it doesn't work--it's just hearsay, and it doesn't actually contradict anything he said. Doubt, however, makes him explode.

I was just about to post and ask the same thing. I don't think they did a good job of clarifying the right scenarios to use those options.

I was actually about to check out the booklet to see what it said. I can't remember the last time that actually happened. I've gotten quite use to games running you through tutorials that show you everything in the first hour that I never think to check there anymore.